UH Professor Elected to Board of National Local Transportation Assistance Program

Constantinos S. Papacostas, civil engineering professor with the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa‘s College of Engineering and director of the Hawaiʻi Local Transportation Assistance Program (LTAP), was recently elected to the executive board of the National Local Transportation Assistance Program Association (NLTAPA). He will be representing Region 9, which includes Arizona, California, Nevada, and Hawaiʻi.

NLTAPA is an organization of transportation transfer centers that are funded by the Federal Highway Administration and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The federal LTAP is a nationwide system of technology transfer centers, which serves American Indian Tribal Governments by developing a mix of technology transfer tools and information to effectively address the needs of the local/tribal highway community.

The Hawaiʻi LTAP was recognized at the 2002 National LTAP conference this summer for its successes in securing partnering agreements with the Cement and Concrete Products Industry of Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiʻi Asphalt Paving Industry and the local sections of the Institute of Transportation Engineers, American Society of Civil Engineers, American Public Works Association, Structural Engineers of Hawaiʻi, and the Hawaiʻi Society of Professional Engineers.

"We are extremely proud of the national recognition our program has received," Papacostas said. "Technological change is moving at an ever accelerating pace. Helping local and state governments, as well as the private sector, to evaluate, select, and properly implement new methods and techniques is critical."

Papacostas, whose areas of specialty are transportation and infrastructure systems engineering, has also served as an advisor to the Federal Highway Administration, Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation, and Hawaiʻi police departments throughout the state. He holds a master‘s degree and doctorate degree from Carnegie-Mellon University.

Papacostas is a member of the National Transportation Technology Transfer Council and Hawaiʻi Geographic Information Coordination Council, columnist for the Hawaiʻi Council of Engineering Societies‘ journal "Wiliki O Hawaiʻi," a cooperating faculty member for UH Mānoa‘s Department of Urban and Regional Planning, and principal and director of the Real Time Traffic Surveillance Laboratory.